Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Review of the Firefox Web Browser as an Alternative to Internet Explorer

Several years ago the Mozilla Firefox web browser was launched. It is a free web browser with huge development community support. Built on the same back end platform as Netscape, it was released as a light weight alternative to Microsoft Internet Explorer. For many reasons it has become a more popular and better alternative to Internet Explorer.

Firefox supports tabbed browsing natively and has a very user friendly interface. Caching is handled within the Firefox application directory under the users Documents and Settings Folder. Often for any connection Firefox will load pages much faster than its competitors. Another wonderful benefit is built in pop up blocker support, and integration with many different media plug-ins. Firefox offers support for expansion. A large developer community has released many plug-ins to expand Firefox's ability.

With Internet Explorer it is a native built in part of the Microsoft Windows operating system. Any Windows function that requires an Internet browser opens with Internet Explorer. You cannot easily change this, and to make matters worse most applications will open Internet Explorer even if you have chosen another browser as your default. Caching within the Windows operating system is basically built in. When you remove browsing history, cookies or other pieces of information browsing information is still held in index files. Even in the Windows registry you can find large amounts of information regarding sites you have.

Using Firefox there is much more anonymity within your browsing habits. This lightweight Internet browser lets you browse they World Wide Web much faster. You can expand the functionality of your browsing experience and ease of use. You control what information is left about your browsing habits. Firefox's security enhancements are very comparable to Internet Explorer. Spyware, Virus's and other security dangers have a harder time landing on your computer using Firefox. Since it is not built in to your Operating System you are able to disable things much easier.

Although Firefox has many qualities at times there are a few disadvantages. Firefox does not have the ability by default to read Microsoft Active X Controllers. There are plug-ins however on certain pages, you still may need to use Internet Explorer. In my browsing experience this has happened to me twice in five years. I am on the Internet up to 10 hours a day so this occasion seems rare.

Along with already release enhancements regular updates for Mozilla Firefox are given. Certainly for ease of use, portability, fast browsing and ease of use Firefox is a choice for anyone.

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